Camellia advice after storm damage

Hello everyone. Beginner level gardener here!

I inherited a beautiful Debutante Camellia (I think!) with my home that I purchased a few years ago. Unfortunately it was no match for Storm Dennis and it broke in half at the base (where the trunk split into 2 thick branches.) The remaining half has grown in bad shape and is mostly hanging over my neighbours garden (picture attached).

What I am thinking of doing is cutting it down and trying to propagate some of the branches and then plant them by a wall of my house. I think it would be lovely as a creeper.

Would appreciate any advice from more experienced gardeners out there! Is replanting it as a creeper a good idea or is it likely to disturb foundations?

 

Camellia can be cut back hard even to where the its snapped . They are not creepers / climbers , if you want something that will climb and have camellia like flowers grow a rose they is plenty to pick from. It a shame really as its just about to flower but you've got nothing to lose now , best cut your losses and let the plant put its energy into future growth . When / if you cut it back give it a feed with a ericaceous feed or manure or both if you wish , that will give it a boost.

I.ve not propagated from Camilla before but I would of thought late spring / early summer maybe best with the new growth . Someone else maybe round soon with more advise on propagation .

 

Give it a hard cut back, it will come good.
Looks like it's pretty leggy, I'd take it back to the height of the fence.
I dont think now is a good time for propagation, better in late summer, but you have nothing to lose.

 

Propergation is usually done after flowering, so if you can find a stem/branch with no flowers, go for a couple of cuttings, semi ripe is best, so the end you put in the soil is firm and brown, but the tip is flimsy and green, keep the tip or top 4 leaves, strip the rest, plant each cutting in 9cm pots, youll know if the have taken after a month, you can use rooting powder or gel, but make sure you use a low nutrient seed and cutting comost, and base heat helps a lot. As for the main plant, as already said by prevoius posts.

 

Propergation your Camellia may also be a good candidate for is air layering, but if you are not confident, its not worth trying, as the wound has to be just deep enough to exsopse the the bark, cambium, and phleom layers.

 

Hi User 1805 to the forum. Good advice from our forum friends. Looking at your photo. Pity the subject hadn't been staked and tied. Camelias in general dislike, wind, exposure and soggy roots.

Cutings can be taken June to August. These should be 3-4inches long of half ripe lateral shoots. Plant into a mixture of peat coir is a good substitute and sand. Bottom heat of 13-16degC will work wonders. Keep them moist but not over wet, often a spray bottle will do the trick.
Leaf bud cuttings are also a very good means of propagation. These need to be taken once again June -August and treated in much the same way.

Layering is another method. 'Cuttings' mentioned Air Layering'. As he said care must be taken when making the initial cut. Having done this, you then need to bring the ground to the cut, so to speak. This entails normally using spagnum moss. Wrap some around the branch.twig and then cover this with some polythene so as to keep moisture in etc. If the process has worked, in time roots become visible within the wrapping.
General layering means that a lower branch of the plant/shrub is bent down to the soil, at a suitable point behind a side shoot, a cut is made and that part of the branch is pressed down and aided by whatever to keep it in contact with the ground. It will usually take around 18 months for roots to have formed and now the section can be cut away from the parent and potted up. It is worth keeping these notes for future reference. Best wishes.

 

A more efficeint way of doing this, is by cutting down the side of a plastic pot, then along the base and stop at the middle, place the pot around the branch so that the wound is just over 1/2 way down, place some gaffa tape over the cut part of the pot, then fill the pot with a low nutrient seed and cutting compost, this way the air has more chance to penetrate the soil giving better root formation.
Mikes choice of general layering is probably a better idea though, if your not confident enough to give air layering a go.